


incredibly still

by Companionable



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Comfort No Hurt, Established Relationship, M/M, Massage, McGenji Week, Post-Recall, Prosthesis, Touching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 06:38:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8361307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Companionable/pseuds/Companionable
Summary: Jesse comes back from a hard mission, and isn't great at taking care of himself. Genji has had personal success, and decides to be forgiving.





	

**Author's Note:**

> this is tagged as "post-recall" and also "au - canon" because... i dont think anyone knows exactly what "post-recall" overwatch actually... looks like? so im guessing just as much as i think anyone else is. anyway, all that means in this case is like... mentions of symmetra and pharah and s76 and stuff.
> 
> this wasnt originally intended for mcgenji week, but the first prompt was touch and i thought this was an appropriate fill.
> 
> find me on twitter [here!](http://twitter.com/tayttimus) and also occasionally on tumblr [here.](http://trickfootie.tumblr.com)

It’s a tough mission to come down from.

The target had been a Talon operation running out of middle-of-nowhere Colorado, a covert base set up atop a deep canyon trench, using the rushing of a low but powerful river -- remnant of the great rushing force which carved the canyon in the first place -- to power a generator which ran the entire base off the grid. It was only anonymous intel from a source that made Winston scratch his head and mutter about frequencies and disruptions that informed the new Overwatch of its existence.

Rumour was that Widowmaker was stationed as security, and that their mysterious new operative Reaper had made enough puff-of-smoke appearances to give reasonable cause to believe he was her backup. Thus, the Commander reasoned, stealth was the key.

The strike team would scale the side of the canyon wall after a long and arduous trek inside the canyon itself, using only low-tech equipment that would not register any signals on Talon radar. It was a week long mission, involving Agents Soldier 76, McCree, and Pharah. With Genji away on personal leave in Hanamura at the mission’s outset, it had taken longer than anticipated to complete without him.

But in the end, the new Overwatch had succeeded, Agent Soldier 76 had an intense showdown with the Reaper, and Agent McCree had cursed every rock in Colorado he’d had to scale.

\-----

Jesse huffs out a long, heavy breath as he hits the cot. “Eugh,” he grunts, rubbing at his arm with a distinct grimace, “I hate climbin’. I’m fine at it, got more than enough upper body strength for it, but damn if it don’t make the joints cry for Mercy.” The capitalization of the word is not emphasized, but assumed.

Genji watches from the doorway as Jesse slumps, looking for all the world like he carries the weight of Overwatch in its new nascence on his shoulders. “But you were successful.”

This brings a tired but cocky grin to Jesse’s features. “Yeah. Yeah, babe, we were.” Suddenly, his grin turns sour, a hiss ripping from him like the precursor to one of Fareeha’s rocket strikes. He rubs his arm again. “Hey, good lookin’, y’mind terribly sittin’ down right here,” and he pats the cot beside him awkwardly with his flesh hand, “and helpin’ me out of this here robot arm? I’m just too damn beat to deal with it.”

Genji can’t help a fond chuckle as he takes the indicated seat. “Of course, dearest,” he says, quietly, using the endearment as he always does: hesitantly, as if he’s saying it wrong.

He eases into Jesse’s side, and Jesse sighs again, only with a gratefulness to it that seems visceral. “Thank you kindly, darlin’...” he mutters, soft in a way that means it’s just for Genji, his head turned so that his lips brush just enough against Genji’s helmet for his sensors to register it in its background processes. As Genji draws Jesse’s serape out of the way to reach the mechanisms which attach the prosthesis to his upper arm, bending down closer to Jesse’s chest to get a better vantage at the hitches and clasps and valves, Jesse shifts forward so his chin can rest atop Genji’s head. It’s gentle enough that Genji feels himself smile from knowing that his exhausted cowboy is exerting his already tired muscles to keep from hindering him in what he’s been asked to accomplish.

Jesse’s breathing evens as Genji slowly works through detaching the arm, seeming near enough to sleep in the moment. This only changes as Genji is finishing up, the fingers slowly falling mechanically limp as their connections to the nerves and musculature are severed, each gentle disconnection eliciting a hitching breath, and Jesse flinches with his whole body as it happens. Genji nudges the underside of Jesse’s chin as a silent apology, and in return he gets a nuzzle with prickly, untrimmed beard hair that makes Genji’s sensors go a little wild trying to translate the sensation. Finally, Genji lifts Jesse’s arm out, sliding the sheath off his stump, and shifts slowly out from under Jesse so as not to startle him, resting the arm on the workbench in his bunk.

When he turns back to the bed, Jesse’s eyes are screwed shut, and he’s flopped back onto the mattress with such force that his shirt has come untucked from his ridiculous belt. Genji chuckles, and Jesse winks an eye open at him. “There, you are all un-prosthesitized.” The syllables are confusing and almost come jumbled out of his mouth, but Genji feels a bit of pride at having gotten them out in what could theoretically be the right order. Not that he has to worry with Jesse, who regularly butchers both English and Spanish, but there’s still some satisfaction in having a command of a foreign language.

Jesse grins, and lazily waves his stump in the air. “I sure am, cupcake. All’s left is to see about gettin’ some moisturizer on this sumbitch.” He sighs, beleaguered, making a defeated groan as he tries to reach for his nightstand. “Y’reckon I could con Satya into developin’ some kind of personal teleportation technology so as to eliminate any need I might have to get off my ass ever again?”

“I think if you tried you would meet what you would refer to as ‘the business end of a photon mc-whatsit’,” Genji provides with laughter, feeling merciful in grabbing the bottle of cheap moisturizing lotion from the bedside table and taking up his spot on Jesse’s bed. He examines the label, the ingredients, and would have wrinkled his nose if the behaviour would have signaled something. Instead, he clicks his tongue loud enough for the audio emitters to project it. “You know, you really ought to use something better than this. None of the essential oils in this brand will do anything for you long term, which is likely why your stump gets so dried out in the prosthetic.”

This time, Jesse doesn’t even open his eyes to chuckle and grin. “That would be why I use yours whenever we’re in your bunk, honey-bunch.”

“Jesse,” Genji says on a whine, in lieu of pouting which tends to crack his lips even from within the confines of his pressurized visor. “That is why I have been going through it so much quicker lately, you unrepentant thief.”

“Hey now!” says Jesse, making a token effort at sitting upright in indignation. “Now, that just ain’t true, sweetpea!” He rolls over on his side, flipping onto his stomach so he can wrap his good arm around Genji’s waist and press kisses into his hip. His voice drops deliciously; “I think you’ll recall I’ve been mighty repentant. In fact, if memory serves, I’ve been repenting to you every night this week..”

The arm around his waist slips low, fingers running along the outside of Genji’s thigh; it would be an invitation on any other occasion. As it is, Genji watches as Jesse’s eyes drift shut and the hand’s exploration slows to a halt with unprecedented speed. Jesse is normally a tease, but not usually to this degree. Genji smiles. “I would ask you not to make advances that you have no energy to follow through on, cowboy. You might run the risk of earning yourself a reputation for blue-balling your partners.”

Jesse only makes a noncommittal humming noise and mutters, “Y’never had any balls to turn blue in the first place, pumpkin.”

“True enough, but that doesn’t mean I relish the idea of having my gears wound without the promise of release. You need moisturizer on that arm of yours, and then you need rest. Sex can come later.”

A snort. “And so can you!”

“Ha ha.” Genji nudges Jesse with a knee. “Excellent innuendo, lover, you charm me with your wit, it is your second most attractive feature.” Jesse snorts again, and Genji sighs. “Come on, Jesse, roll over. I also want to sleep, but I will not leave it alone until your arm has been properly tended to.”

When Jesse finally does roll over, he’s got a cocksure grin on. “What’s the first?”

Genji rolls his eyes, which his visor interprets as a rolling outage of the green lights coming from it. “Your cock. Happy now? May I finally accomplish this task?”

“Aw, puddin’, where’s the romance today? Can’t you tell me how big it is, or how nice it feels?”

“Not when you are being an obstinate bastard, I cannot. Arm please.” Genji holds out a palm he’s placed a dollop of the cheap moisturizer on, and relaxes his shoulders in a way that Jesse knows means he’s smiling when the cowboy’s much-abused stump finally falls into his grasp. “Thank you, sweetest.”

They’re silent for a moment as Genji makes sure the skin that runs up the full length of Jesse’s severed arm receives the attention it desperately needs, and for moments Genji assumes the other has fallen asleep. That is, until he hears, “Ain’t that goop get all up in them joints of yours when you’re doin’ that? How’d’ya manage that when it’s just you dealin’ with what skin you got left?”

Genji shrugs. “Unlike you, I tend to take care of my prosthetics. Winston has been providing me with a few cans of compressed air he uses for his computer set-up with Athena, and the Bastion unit has indicated that his preserves of joint lubricant are for the use of anyone on base.” At Jesse’s opening of one eye, his mouth barely opening to make a remark, Genji deadpans, “No, Jesse. We are not using mechanical lubricant for anything other than lubricating mechanical joints, I am halting that thought right where it lies.”

Jesse pouts. “Party pooper.”

A few more minutes of silence pass. The lotion has all been absorbed into Jesse’s skin by this point, and Genji has taken to just massaging the tense muscles there, strained from the weight of the prosthesis and the difficulty of the climb. Jesse makes quiet noises of comfort throughout the process, never really asleep, but not entirely awake either. “I hope you know this does not absolve you from seeing Angela later. If your arm is giving you trouble after missions like these, she will want to know.”

“Aw, lamb, you’re doin’ a mighty fine job on your own of healin’ my aches and pains. Ain’t no need for biotic intervention.”

The light of Genji’s visor brightens. “Do not tell me you have not been to see her recently.” When Jesse’s eyes remain resolutely shut, Genji sighs. “I thought it was strange that she had been asking after you so much lately.”

Jesse opens his eyes, looking rather fond. “Y’all talk about me on your little tea dates? Honey, I’m just pleased as punch.”

Genji presses on a particularly prominent knot of tense muscle, eliciting a chuckling hiss from Jesse. “Of course we discuss you, we are both deeply concerned for your health and wellbeing. I, because you have my heart and your pain is mine; she because she simply has eyes and more than two working brain cells to recognize that your self-preservation instincts are miniscule at best.”

A flinch. “Ouch, baby-cakes. Ain’t pullin’ no punches now, are ya?”

“Oh, love of mine,” Genji whispers, curling down and around the crest of Jesse’s head, an arm wrapping around to rub his chest. “I would never pull my punches with you.”

Jesse grins, slowly. “Well, I guess I can’t say that ain’t why I’m with you.” He lifts his chin to kiss the underside of Genji’s once, twice, and a lingering third time. “Let’s move this on up proper there, lover. I’m damn tired and I’ve been looking forward to sleeping next to you for weeks.”

Genji chuckles, scooting up the bed toward the pillows, dragging a mostly-limp Jesse with him by the underarms. “Sleep it is then.” He untangles the mess of Jesse’s blankets at the foot of his cot and draws it over them, Jesse already mostly asleep again beside him. Arms wrap around him as he settles down, drawing him close and tucking him under a chin. Genji sighs, happy. “I’m glad you returned safe, Jesse.”

Jesse hums. “Me too, Genji. Me too.”


End file.
